Ouch: Motorists hit with $60 fine for blowing through new E-ZPass ramps in Carbon

PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE / CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Pennsylvania Turnpike workers install signs for a new E-ZPass-only ramp on the Northeast Extension in June. Motorists without E-ZPass devices are geting hit with $60 fines for using the cashless ramps.

Pennsylvania Turnpike workers install signs for a new E-ZPass-only ramp on the Northeast Extension in June. Motorists without E-ZPass devices are geting hit with $60 fines for using the cashless ramps. (PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE / CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The Pennsylvania Turnpike's new E-Zpass-only ramps in Carbon County are providing a financial windfall for the agency — hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from motorists who blow through them without transponders.

In its first two weeks, the Route 903 interchange on the Northeast Extension tallied 4,537 violators, the Turnpike Commission reported.

That's more than 12 percent of the 37,376 vehicles that used the interchange between June 30, when it opened, and Monday.

Most of those drivers will be hit with a $60.11 bill — a $25 administrative fine plus $35.11 in toll fees.

The Turnpike Commission said it has a valid reason for the high price drivers must pay for not having E-ZPass.

With no way of tracking where they entered the Turnpike, the commission must assume violators came from the farthest entrance —— the Ohio border 399 miles away, said Carl DeFebo, the commission's director of public relations and marketing.

In the case of the Route 903 interchange, about 2,700 people who exited at the Route 903 interchange will face the $60.11 violation fee. The 1,811 people who used the Route 903 entrance ramp had their fees based off where they exited.

DeFebo said the violations are common at E-ZPass-only interchanges.

During the same two-week period, about 5 percent of the 141,555 people who used the cashless interchange at Route 29 violated the toll, according to commission figures.

The higher violation rate at the Route 903 exit should drop to similar levels once the locals catch on, he said.

"There is going to be a learning curve here," DeFebo said. "We are understanding and we do recognize that people are learning."

DeFebo said that in many cases, the violations are innocent mistakes of people who are overly reliant on their GPS devices.

The software determines the quickest route that would take the vehicle onto Route 903, but the driver doesn't realize until it's too late that they're at an E-ZPass-only exit. The commission doesn't view that as an excuse since massive road signs are in place to warn drivers.

"Motorists have to look at the signs. Your GPS is not always going to be 100 percent accurate," he said.

The Turnpike catches offenders through photos taken at the so-called slip ramps. DeFebo said violators who want to appeal their fines should hold on to their Turnpike tickets as proof of where they got on the road.

First-time violators will have their $25 fine waived, and the toll fee will be adjusted to the amount the driver would have paid, DeFebo said.

If a motorist lost a ticket, the commission will also consider evidence such as receipts showing where the violator was before entering the Turnpike, DeFebo said.

The Route 903 ramps are the fourth E-ZPass-only interchanges installed on the Turnpike. They should become more common since most drivers already subscribe to the system and they're cheaper, more efficient and process traffic more quickly, DeFebo said.